Candidates
"Identifying as a resident of Scarborough means a lot more to people than you might know, sometimes even more so than identifying with the City of Toronto itself." – Former Mayor John Tory
Truer words cannot be spoken. I have always identified as someone from Scarborough as opposed to Toronto. One of my proudest moments for this community was advocating for Scarborough-Agincourt when our riding was almost lost in a federal redistribution. It is upsetting to see the rest of the candidates for this ward not attend the in-person meeting and several virtual sessions that were held regarding this matter. They are now trying to become our city councillor. Where were you when we needed your voices to stand up for our history and identity? This is my home so I am particularly sensitive to this matter. Why would anyone not fight for their home if they claim to possess strong roots here?
This is a ~$174, 000 position. Ask yourself what you believe qualifies someone to earn this type of salary from the City of Toronto. I would argue this type of salary and work warrants extensive experience in community service, council meetings, loyalty to our ward, and an advanced degree within the realm of Canadian law and politics. Here is how your candidates stack up:
Compare the Candidates
I have spared no one. I encourage all constituents to conduct their own research if you believe I have been less than thorough. Community service should never be performative. If I am struggling to find what kind of work these candidates have done, that goes to show how genuine they are in their commitment and passion to these issues and ward.
Nick Mantas
Furthermore, it has come to my attention that not many in the ward know about what our current Councillor has been up to and what the other candidates stand for. I am disheartened to learn that our MP and MPP has endorsed someone like this for the upcoming election. This is why it is important we do our own research prior to voting:
By Ben Spurr, City Hall Bureau Chief — May 06, 2024
Mantas racked up more than $16,600 in bills over nine days when he and his chief of staff travelled to Turin, Italy for a green cities conference in March 2023, all at the public's expense.
A luxury car rental. Extra nights in a hotel. Accommodation upgrades. Missed flights.
Publicly posted expense filings have revealed new details of how a Scarborough councillor's taxpayer-funded trip to Italy went so over budget he had to seek special permission from council to cover the costs.
The city automatically covers the costs for councillors and their employees to attend conferences up to $7,000 per person. Mantas told council they breached that limit when the airline overbooked their flight home, forcing them to buy new plane tickets and stay an extra day. In February, council voted to reimburse the overspending as well.
But the filings raise questions about how the pair missed their flight, and show that even before that incident the cost of the trip had blown past original estimates. One councillor who reviewed details of the expenses described them as a "shocking" use of public funds that should never have been approved.
In the filings and written responses to the Star, Mantas attributed the cost overruns to a series of mishaps beyond his control. He asserted that he did his best to keep his spending down, and that his attendance at the forum was in the city's interest.
By Shawn Micallef, Contributing Columnist
"When done right, travel is a beautiful thing. It can expand minds, cross cultural divides and increase understanding. Travel can also be a waste, folly or misadventure.
The latter seems to be the case with the trip Toronto city councillor Nick Mantas took to Turin, Italy... details demonstrate more incompetence and naivety than one might expect from a city councillor.
Missing a flight due to a miscalculation of driving time to the airport when there's both Google and extensive, frequent rail connections in Italy is baffling. So too is having to abandon an Airbnb for a hotel because it's in a 'bad neighbourhood,' something that, if true, is also easy to look up beforehand...
It all doesn't sit right, but neither does the rubber stamp reimbursement of most of Mantas's council colleagues gave him in February. This undermines the public's trust."
Ask yourself as a resident of Ward 22, if you are getting some of the best services available from the city... [I] propose to have the city staffing budget cut if other councillors are able to offer better services without as much.
“Self-financing is quite common. 17 of the 25 candidates contributed more than $1,000 to their own campaigns. Only 3 candidates (James Pasternak, Nick Mantas, and Vicent Crisanti) spent none of their own money on their campaigns.”
“The first thing that jumped out to me was that very little campaign money comes from Scarborough. Not a single one of the winning candidates from Scarborough raised the majority of their campaign money from the former municipality.
The next thing I noticed was the amount of money coming from outside of Toronto. Donations from outside the city are sometimes controversial despite being allowed under the rules for municipal elections. Four candidates were tightly packed at the top of the list, with around $28,000 each raised from addresses outside the city. They were Vincent Crisanti, Michael Thompson, Frances Nunziata, and Nick Mantas.”
“Many of the candidates endorsed by John Tory … received sizable contributions from PC donors. That all checks out.”
Our current incumbent was the former Chief of Staff for Jim Karygiannis:
“Scarborough-Agincourt Coun. Jim Karygiannis had the most outside contributions, with more than 70 per cent of his donors and most of the $79,400 he raised coming from other cities, like Brampton and Mississauga”
“Why somebody running in [a Toronto ward] should be raising money in Pickering is kind of a weird thing to contemplate.- Zack Taylor, University of Toronto municipal politics expert”
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“Why do you think you won? Do you think having Karygiannis’ mailings lists helped you in such a tight contest?
I would say that the help of the entire team, residents, our supporters and Jim Karygiannis’ were all integral parts to make this a win.”
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“Karygiannis used the list of email addresses he compiled as a councillor to ask residents to support Mantas.”
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“The Ontario Court of Appeal delivered a very strong decision that stands up for the law that says if you spend more than you’re allowed you can’t hold elected office…Jim Karygiannis made his own bed and now he must lie in it.” – Adam Chaleff, fair elections advocate
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The incumbent’s top client lobbying for them is GTA Strategies.
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The first person listed on their team is Jim Karygiannis. This type of governance can end in Scarborough-Agincourt if we all collectively agree to vote it out. It is incredibly difficult to unseat an incumbent but I am confident it can be done if we make an informed vote and do not split the vote.
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“Councillor Nick Mantas, one of the quietest members, saw the biggest drop in score with this update. He shed 7.5 points and dropped below the 70% mark,”
We do not need “quiet” representing us at city council.
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Quiet on social media too. Name is not even to be found.
Missed more than 10% of meetings. Only 6 other councillors had a worse attendance record.
Voting Record
“Tory loyalists like Brad Bradford, Jon Burnside, and Nick Mantas have seats on key committees.”
On the issues that Nick Mantas was able to vote on, he sided with Mayor John Tory; Nick Mantas is also endorsed by Tory.
Our current councillor’s voting similarity with the mayor is 79%. Not terrible, but if you want to see progressive change in the city, we need to vote in someone that is more proactive at City Hall.
2025 Seven members of Council have a perfect record on passing motions: Councillor Rachel Chernos Lin, Deputy Mayor Ausma Malik, Councillor Shelley Carroll, Councillor Michael Thompson, Councillor Jamaal Myers, Councillor Mike Colle and Councillor Nick Mantas (21). Of those, Carroll (135 motions) and Malik (96) are the most impressive, as the rest don’t have a lot of motions to their name.
2024 The average councillor has made 55 motions so far. Significantly under that mark are Councillor Jon Burnside (11), Councillor Vince Crisanti (18), and Councillor Nick Mantas (14).
“Councillor Nick Mantas, one of the quietest members, saw the biggest drop in score with this update. He shed 7.5 points and dropped below the 70% mark,”
We do not need “quiet” representing us at city council.
"If you're afraid to use your voice, give up your seat at the table." - Michelle Obama
The average councillor made 110 motions over the term. Councillors significantly under the mark were Councillor Cynthia Lai (32), Michael Ford (27) and Councillor Nick Mantas (9).
Anyone who voted for an increase in the pay raise when they do not meet the requirements I set out does not deserve it; nor a seat at City Council when the median salary for a resident of this ward is $31, 600. That’s about 5.5 times the councillor salary. Our current councillor voted yes for the pay raise:
“We’re not getting any younger in this room. Some of us might not be here next term. These are desperately hard times and we need the best in the city to want to join us in this chamber.” – Councillor Shelley Carroll on the justification behind the 33k pay raise.
Although I oppose the raise, City council is now looking for candidates like myself. Only one councillor is under the age of 40. That is 4% of our entire council. Our federal government, with 44 MPs, has better representation for this demographic at 13%.
“It’s already a really difficult challenge to go up against a long-standing and powerful incumbent…I represent the diversity of this city; I’m a woman. I’m a racialized person. I’ve grown up low-income…Our voices need to be at the table.” –Amber Morley prior to unseating the previous councillor and winning her seat for Councillor of Ward 3.
Councillor Morley was unable to unseat the incumbent her first time around. She was successful afterwards. I can strongly relate to her statement about being a racialized woman that grew up low-income. She is absolutely right about our voices needing to be at the table. I ask the constituents in this ward to realize that change cannot happen if we do not vote for change. Waiting for two elections in order for this to happen is one too many. Change starts now.
36% of city councillors are women. 32% of city councillors are people of colour. A mere 12% are women of colour. Yet, ~56%* of the city are people of colour—that is more than half! Women of colour, in particular, make up about 29% of the population in Toronto. When a qualified woman of colour decides to step up, we need to help get her voice heard when the people she helps advocate for are already severely underrepresented in these spaces and especially when she is exceptionally qualified for the position. Since 1988-2003, we only had one woman of colour serve ward 22 at the municipal level. It has been white men since then. Almost a quarter of a century later and this ward has not seen any changes since then. Change starts with the type of person you elect in. Scarborough currently has 6 seats reserved at city council. None of these seats are held by women or anyone under the age of 40.
Stephen Holyday’s father was the councillor who held the seat before him at their ward. Let us put an end to nepotism and incumbency advantage when it can be demonstrated that the incumbent is not always the best choice.
Average age: ~57.36. That is closer to retirement than the start of a career.
Age and Salary
What we should not do is try to unseat an unimpressive White man just to vote another one in—but we will shortly get to that.
Other Candidates
“Improving Kidstown: Let’s have a snack bar! This is a wonderful idea! However, as residents of this ward know, the place recently opened up again after major renovations which started in the spring of 2024. $19 million was budgeted for this project. As someone who attended Kidstown numerous times as a child,—I live within walking distance of it—most of us ate after our time there or packed our own food to bring, as the City of Toronto even encourages it, “The grassy picnic area provides space for visitors to relax and enjoy the park setting.”
On the contrary, this has already been addressed and residents can see it take into effect by this time next year:
As previously mentioned in my chart, you can see why Dan is not appropriate for our ward. I would also like to highlight the fact that he is a high school teacher. We all saw what happened to the country the last time we elected a former high school teacher into our country’s highest position. I have the utmost respect for teachers; some of my greatest mentors have been the very teachers that have guided me in this ward. However, we need to know when someone is just not quite fit for politics:
Kidstown has free entry. Many of us go here to enjoy the free entertainment it provides, especially the residents who live on a budget. A snack bar may not be as profitable as the idea claims to be, considering Kidstown attracts a particular demographic. I speak on this matter as someone who fell into this category. This is why it is important to have a city councillor who has lived here for many experiences. Not to mention the additional cost the city would have to incur for such an idea when millions have already been invested into this place. This money can go elsewhere towards issues that actually need addressing. This just serves as another example of what a teacher can offer in terms of highlighting problems and solutions. Dan’s scope seems limited to his professional experience, not his very limited lived one here in the ward. The city just expanded the school food program to ensure 33,000 more students will not have to attend school on an empty stomach. I hope this makes Dan as happy as it makes me, since I was once a student who benefited from such programs in this ward. The city budget can be spent on issues like this instead of what Dan proposes.
This why it is important to have someone who has studied the law, especially someone who understands bylaws—as mentioned in my chart—so motions that have already been brought forward are not addressed again. I hope this demonstrates that I keep a close eye on these things and am on top of what actually needs to be addressed.
City councillors are supposed to be independent. Dan’s post even makes note of this, “There are no parties in municipal politics.”
Yet his marketing colours are identical to Olivia Chow’s and his lawn signs are orange, which indicates he is strongly connected to the New Democratic Party (NDP), who he just so happened to represent in the last election. How can you trust someone whose actions have just contradicted his statements?
Dan does not call out our current Councillor's work while he was working under Olivia Chow because he cannot speak out against someone who is a member of the same party. Why bother bringing up what he did during the Tory era if you cannot critique his current work? Do you covertly agree with how he’s operating under Chow? If so, why bother running against him when you yourself understand those decisions were made under a different government?
He is not the only one who was formerly affiliated with a political party.
Donny was the provincial candidate for the Ontario Party back in 2022. I was not familiar with his campaign then, nor do I know if he is still affiliated with the party, since there is very limited information on the matter online, but for the reasons mentioned in my chart, I do not believe he is the right person who is capable of unseating the incumbent. Nor do I truly believe he is independent, as his marketing colours remain the same as the Ontario party colours he used last year:
When candidates are not truly independent, you are not wrong for questioning whether they are pushing a bigger agenda. I am non-partisan. My job is to address the community’s concerns--not what a political party or lobbyist wants me to push. If voted in, I will be your municipal representative. Our ward’s views may align in some matters and differ on others when it comes to political parties. But it is up to me to put your well-being first, bring motions forward, and vote accordingly, based on the ward’s best interests.
Vote Compass
I highly encourage everyone to use Vote Compass to help you make an informed vote. I use it during every election that is available so took extra time to ensure every one of my answers were able to help constituents understand why I answered the way I did. I am the only candidate who took the effort to answer every question and hit the character count. I also appear to be the most moderate candidate and this is beneficial for a multitude of reasons. I am not restricted to serving one political ideology. My vote on city council will swing depending on the motion presented. This is an asset to the ward who seems to have an equal mix of liberal and conservative constituents.
We have one candidate who barely put any effort into his comments which read more as jokes, another one who appears to have used AI to generate some of her comments, another one who is concerningly right-leaning and conservative, and one man who has shamelessly ripped off content from my website and is presenting the sourced material as his own original findings on his biography here and social media reels. A part of his website format and subheadings seem to have also taken direct “inspiration” from my own. I can actually respect Dan for formerly running as NDP and having those values demonstrated on Vote Compass. This other individual however, I cannot share the same sentiment for…
Legal representation and the press have been contacted about this matter and I am currently in the process of deciding whether to let it go or potentially prosecute him for copyright infringement. The city has also advised me to seek my own legal counsel after presenting this to them. As someone who spoke about being academically successful on Vote Compass, I would like to take this opportunity to encourage young voters especially to pursue post-secondary studies at a university level. Although plagiarism is taught in high school, this individual does not seem to have learned this lesson. You can face expulsion at university if this is a pattern. If you happened to find yourself in law school afterwards, then you will also learn about ethics and the seriousness of copyright infringement.
As someone who has daughters of his own that also happen to be women of colour, I would like for him to think about the example he has just set for his children. How would you like it if one of them spent hours, days, and months on their passion project just for someone else to steal it and present it as their own original findings and ideas?
I come from a Hindu family. Actions such as these do not invite good karma and the likelihood of winning an election by stealing someone else’s work is next to none. I also consider myself a forgiving person. If he can take this message as a seize and desist, and formally apologize—and this does not have to be public—then I may be able to let it go. Everyone makes mistakes. He should mostly be embarrassed that he thought he could get away with it considering how thorough I have been in the construction of my website. Imitation is a form of flattery. Just refrain from doing so in the political sphere where it is all public information. If you were able to read every little information on my website and pull from it accordingly, I find it rather ironic that you overlooked the fact that I attended one of the top law schools in the country. Did you actually think I would not hesitate to make you face legal consequences for your actions?
Thank you for making it this far. I now ask you all for 3 favours:
1
Make an informed vote. We need someone who reflects the diversity of our ward and our unique concerns we desperately need expressed at City Hall.
Racialized immigrants report lower well-being in Canada.
It only makes sense that one of the most racialized wards is represented by a racialized resident of the ward.
2
Do not split the vote. I was courageous enough to put my name forward for this election and put a spotlight on what is wrong with politics here. I hope this bravery is rewarded.
3
Help unseat the incumbent by voting me in. I decided to run after I thoroughly researched every candidate running in our ward. I was incredibly unimpressed by the list. I realized I would rather vote for myself than anyone listed. I have heard too many times that elections do not matter since everyone is the same. I have shown you that I am not like them. I am capable of calling out corruption and holding people accountable, even when I was strongly advised against taking this approach. You deserve to be informed. My experience and expertise speaks for itself. This ward needs someone strong and qualified to look after them.
I am confident we can defeat this long history of questionable politics in Scarborough-Agincourt and have faith in us to vote for the change that genuinely puts the people first, not puppets/lackeys that cater to developers and lobbyists at the expense of our tax dollars. Do not help elect power-hungry individuals running for the wrong reasons.